A longitudinal study combining the Double Diamond framework and Behavior Change Wheel to co-create a sedentary behavior intervention in police control rooms.

Background: Police work can be sedentary and stressful, negatively impacting health and wellbeing. In a novel co-creation approach, we used the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) and Double Diamond (DD) design framework to guide the collaborative design and development of a sedentary behavior intervention in the control rooms of two British police forces.

Methods: Multiple stakeholders participated in four phases of research.

Principles for Adapting Assessments of Executive Function across Cultural Contexts.

Direct assessments of executive functions (EFs) are increasingly used in research and clinical settings, with a central assumption that they assess "universal" underlying skills. Their use is spreading globally, raising questions about the cultural appropriateness of assessments devised in Western industrialized countries. We selectively reviewed multidisciplinary evidence and theory to identify sets of cultural preferences that may be at odds with the implicit assumptions of EF assessments.

Building an assessment of community-defined social-emotional competencies from the ground up in Tanzania.

Two studies were conducted in 2017 to investigate children's competencies seen as important by communities in Mtwara, Tanzania. Qualitative data from 95 parents (34 women) and 27 teachers (11 women) in Study 1 indicated that dimensions of social responsibility, such as obedience, were valued highly. In Study 2, the competencies of 477 children (245 girls), aged 4-13 years, were rated by teachers and parents.

Preventive malaria treatment among school-aged children in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analyses.

Background: The burden of malaria infection in sub-Saharan Africa among school-aged children aged 5-15 years is underappreciated and represents an important source of human-to-mosquito transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. Additional interventions are needed to control and eliminate malaria. We aimed to assess whether preventive treatment of malaria might be an effective means of reducing P falciparum infection and anaemia in school-aged children and lowering parasite transmission.

Practical lessons for phone-based assessments of learning.

School closures affecting more than 1.5 billion children are designed to prevent the spread of current public health risks from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they simultaneously introduce new short-term and long-term health risks through lost education. Measuring these effects in real time is critical to inform effective public health responses, and remote phone-based approaches are one of the only viable options with extreme social distancing in place.

Literacy acquisition in multilingual educational contexts: Evidence from Coastal Kenya.

Literacy is a powerful tool against poverty, leading to further education and vocational success. In sub-Saharan Africa, schoolchildren commonly learn in two languages-African and European. Multiple early literacy skills (including phonological awareness and receptive language) support literacy acquisition, but this has yet to be empirically tested in sub-Saharan Africa, where learning contexts are highly multilingual, and children are often learning to read in a language they do not speak at home.

Impact of a malaria intervention package in schools on infection, anaemia and cognitive function in schoolchildren in Mali: a pragmatic cluster-randomised trial.

Background: School-aged children are rarely targeted by malaria control programmes, yet the prevalence of infection in primary school children often exceeds that seen in younger children and could affect haemoglobin concentration and school performance.

Methods: A cluster-randomised trial was carried out in 80 primary schools in southern Mali to evaluate the impact of a school-based malaria intervention package. Intervention schools received two interventions sequentially: (1) teacher-led participatory malaria prevention education, combined with distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), followed 7 months later at the end of the transmission season by (2) mass delivery of artesunate and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine administered by teachers, termed intermittent parasite clearance in schools (IPCs).

Reading and Phonological Awareness in Africa.

Literacy levels in Africa are low, and school instruction outcomes are not promising. Africa also has a disproportionate number of unschooled children. Phonological awareness (PA), especially phoneme awareness, is critically associated with literacy, but there is little evidence about whether PA is gained through literacy, schooling, or both, because most children studied are in education and can read at least letters.

Impact of intermittent screening and treatment for malaria among school children in Kenya: a cluster randomised trial.

Background: Improving the health of school-aged children can yield substantial benefits for cognitive development and educational achievement. However, there is limited experimental evidence of the benefits of alternative school-based malaria interventions or how the impacts of interventions vary according to intensity of malaria transmission. We investigated the effect of intermittent screening and treatment (IST) for malaria on the health and education of school children in an area of low to moderate malaria transmission.

Early childhood malaria prevention and children's patterns of school leaving in the Gambia.

Background: Early childhood malaria is often fatal, but its impact on the development and education of survivors has not received much attention. Malaria impacts cognitive development in a number of ways that may impact later educational participation.

Aims: In this study, we examine the long-term educational effects of preventing early childhood malaria.

Cluster-randomised trial of the impact of school-based deworming and iron supplementation on the cognitive abilities of schoolchildren in Sri Lanka's plantation sector.

Objective: To assess the impact of deworming and iron supplementation on the cognitive abilities and educational achievement of school-age children in Sri Lanka.

Methods: Prospective, placebo-controlled randomised study. The treatment group received deworming and weekly iron supplementation for 6 months; the control group received placebo for both the anthelmintic and iron.

Challenges for consent and community engagement in the conduct of cluster randomized trial among school children in low income settings: experiences from Kenya.

Background: There are a number of practical and ethical issues raised in school-based health research, particularly those related to obtaining consent from parents and assent from children. One approach to developing, strengthening, and supporting appropriate consent and assent processes is through community engagement. To date, much of the literature on community engagement in biomedical research has concentrated on community- or hospital-based research, with little documentation, if any, of community engagement in school-based health research.

Plasmodium falciparum, anaemia and cognitive and educational performance among school children in an area of moderate malaria transmission: baseline results of a cluster randomized trial on the coast of Kenya.

Objectives: Studies have typically investigated health and educational consequences of malaria among school-aged children in areas of high malaria transmission, but few have investigated these issues in moderate transmission settings. This study investigates the patterns of and risks for Plasmodium falciparum and anaemia and their association with cognitive and education outcomes on the Kenyan coast, an area of moderate malaria transmission.

Methods: As part of a cluster randomised trial, a baseline cross-sectional survey assessed the prevalence of and risk factors for P.

The impact of education on sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa: a review of the evidence.

Many studies have attempted to determine the relationship between education and HIV status. However, a complete and causal understanding of this relationship requires analysis of its mediating pathways, focusing on sexual behaviors. We developed a series of hypotheses based on the differential effect of educational attainment on three sexual behaviors.

Cost analysis of school-based intermittent screening and treatment of malaria in Kenya.

Background: The control of malaria in schools is receiving increasing attention, but there remains currently no consensus as to the optimal intervention strategy. This paper analyses the costs of intermittent screening and treatment (IST) of malaria in schools, implemented as part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial on the Kenyan coast.

Methods: Financial and economic costs were estimated using an ingredients approach whereby all resources required in the delivery of IST are quantified and valued.

Improving educational achievement and anaemia of school children: design of a cluster randomised trial of school-based malaria prevention and enhanced literacy instruction in Kenya.

Background: Improving the health of school-aged children can yield substantial benefits for cognitive development and educational achievement. However, there is limited experimental evidence on the benefits of school-based malaria prevention or how health interventions interact with other efforts to improve education quality. This study aims to evaluate the impact of school-based malaria prevention and enhanced literacy instruction on the health and educational achievement of school children in Kenya.

Contrasting causal pathways contribute to poorer health and nutrition outcomes in orphans in Zimbabwe.

Orphaned children have been found to be at greater risk of poor health and malnutrition compared to non-orphans in sub-Saharan African countries. However, levels of disadvantage vary by location and little is known about the causal pathways that lead from orphanhood to poorer health and malnutrition. Aggregate data from recent Demographic and Health Surveys in 22 countries were used to compare overall levels of ill-health and malnutrition by orphan status.

Assessment of cognitive abilities in multiethnic countries: the case of the Wolof and Mandinka in the Gambia.

Background: The use of cognitive tests is increasing in Africa but little is known about how such tests are affected by the great ethnic and linguistic diversity on the continent.

Aim: To assess ethnic and linguistic group differences in cognitive test performance in the West African country of the Gambia and to investigate the sources of these differences.

Samples: Study 1 included 579 participants aged 14-19 years from the Wolof and Mandinka ethnic groups of the Gambia.

Education and vulnerability: the role of schools in protecting young women and girls from HIV in southern Africa.

Education has a potentially important role to play in tackling the spread of HIV, but is there evidence that this potential is realized? This analysis combines the results of previous literature reviews and updates them with the findings of recent randomized controlled trials and a discussion of possible mechanisms for the effect of schooling on vulnerability to HIV infection. There is a growing body of evidence that keeping girls in school reduces their risk of contracting HIV. The relationship between educational attainment and HIV has changed over time, with educational attainment now more likely to be associated with a lower risk of HIV infection than earlier in the epidemic.

Costs and cost-effectiveness of delivering intermittent preventive treatment through schools in western Kenya.

Background: Awareness of the potential impact of malaria among school-age children has stimulated investigation into malaria interventions that can be delivered through schools. However, little evidence is available on the costs and cost-effectiveness of intervention options. This paper evaluates the costs and cost-effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) as delivered by teachers in schools in western Kenya.

Relationships between anaemia and parasitic infections in Kenyan schoolchildren: a Bayesian hierarchical modelling approach.

Anaemia is multi-factorial in origin and disentangling its aetiology remains problematic, with surprisingly few studies investigating the relative contribution of different parasitic infections to anaemia amongst schoolchildren. We report cross-sectional data on haemoglobin, malaria parasitaemia, helminth infection and undernutrition among 1523 schoolchildren enrolled in classes 5 and 6 (aged 10-21 years) in 30 primary schools in western Kenya. Bayesian hierarchical modelling was used to investigate putative relationships.

Effect of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria on health and education in schoolchildren: a cluster-randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in early childhood, yet its consequences for health and education during the school-age years remain poorly understood. We examined the effect of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) in reducing anaemia and improving classroom attention and educational achievement in semi-immune schoolchildren in an area of high perennial transmission.

Methods: A stratified, cluster-randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of IPT was done in 30 primary schools in western Kenya.

HIV-associated orphanhood and children's psychosocial distress: theoretical framework tested with data from Zimbabwe.

Objectives: We measured the psychosocial effect of orphanhood in a sub-Saharan African population and evaluated a new framework for understanding the causes and consequences of psychosocial distress among orphans and other vulnerable children.

Methods: The framework was evaluated using data from 5321 children aged 12 to 17 years who were interviewed in a 2004 national survey in Zimbabwe. We constructed a measure of psychosocial distress using principle components analysis.